Cazenovia Creek has long shaped the Town of Aurora and the Southtowns through its industry, settlement, recreation, and natural beauty. Aurora would not have existed in the same form without the creek, whose branches connect the Village of East Aurora with rural hamlets including West Falls, Griffins Mills, Jewettville, and South Wales in the Town of Wales. In Aurora’s early days, the creek and its tributaries provided power for lumber, grain, and woolen mills that energized the local economy. The area’s beauty was valued before foreign settlers arrived in 1804, and Native American villages were known here as late as the 1500s and 1600s. Covered wooden bridges once carried travelers over the steep embankments of the creek, and at this location along the west branch there was once an iron bridge, while a steel bridge once crossed the waterway in West Falls. Named for Holland Land Company agent Theophilus Cazenov, Cazenovia Creek also provided recreation for centuries. In the early part of the 20th century, boating and canoeing were popular, and at Donner’s Creekside Pavilion farther north in the Village of East Aurora, guests rode The Arrow and other pleasure boats while enjoying a dance floor considered one of the best in the area. Pleasure boats and canoes also entertained visitors at Donner’s Creekside Park at the southern edge of the village. Local legend held that West Falls children once pretended the creek was the Niagara River, with one side the United States and the other Canada. The hamlets along this section of the Western New York Southtowns Scenic Byway developed directly because of the creek: Jewettville once had brickyards, several mills were established in Griffins Mills, and the Presbyterian Church there, which still stands, served as a stop on the Underground Railroad and played a major role in the Abolitionist Movement. Although the mills are gone, waterfalls, fall color, and broad western views remain along Cazenovia Creek and Mill Road.